Literary Fiction | The Rabbit Girls | Anna Ellory

I’m delighted to be on tour for debut The Rabbit Girls. Anna Ellory is chatting to us about her inspiration, characters and more.

The Rabbit Girls is an exquisitely written story about finding hope amidst inhumanity and follows a family across generations, form the Holocaust to the fall of the Berlin Wall. The publication date, 1st September, marks the anniversary of the start World War Two.

Berlin, 1989. As the wall between East and West falls, Miriam Winter cares for her dying father, Henryk. When he cries out for someone named Frieda – and Miriam discovers an Auschwitz tattoo hidden under his watch strap – Henryk’s secret history begins to unravel.

Searching for more clues of her father’s past, Miriam finds an inmate uniform from the Ravensbrück women’s camp concealed among her mother’s things. Within its seams are dozens of letters to Henryk written by Frieda. The letters reveal the disturbing truth about the ‘Rabbit Girls’, young women experimented on at the camp. And amid their tales of sacrifice and endurance, Miriam pieces together a love story that has been hidden away in Henryk’s heart for almost fifty years.

The Rabbit Girls by Anna Ellory is out now, published by Lake Union, priced £20.00 in hardback and available as an audiobook from Audible.Buy from Amazon.

Hi Anna, welcome to Jera’s Jamboree.

Please summarise The Rabbit Girls in 20 words or less.

The Rabbit
Girls is a story of love, friendship and survival it asks; What does hope look
like in hell?

What was your inspiration for The Rabbit Girls Anna?

I read an
article about Stanislawa
Leszczyńska, the Polish Midwife in Auschwitz and I hadn’t heard her story
before. In fact, it got me into thinking about female holocaust stories, how do
women respond and react to these atrocities? And, for me, just after having my
son I also thought of birth and children in such a place. I did some research
into Ravensbrück which I hadn’t heard of before… the story started there.

Please tell us about the characters in your book.

Miriam is the main character, she holds the narrative of the story and the majority is written from her perspective, she is afraid of her own shadow and, when we meet her, she is caring for her father Henryk. Miriam is struggling to live life in the basic sense of the word, trying to do what’s right for her father and exist day-to-day as best she can. So, when she finds a uniform with letters sewn into the seams, she is taken on a journey into her father’s past – which, for her, is a reprieve from her present circumstances.

Henryk is dying and from his narrative we hear about a love affair he had with a woman called Frieda that cost him his job, his wife and almost his life.

And then, within both the narratives is Frieda; she is young, bold and bright and thrust into a world she has no control over. Within her letters she finds both brutality, the worst of human behaviour, but also the best – in her newfound friends and the family unit within the camps.

These are the main characters, but there are a plethora of side characters whom I love just as much as those I spent the most time with. If you have read the novel already then you’ll know that Hani is a big character, both for Frieda, but in personality too – she is my favourite character and I could have written a whole book just about her.

I wrote the
book for Bunny; voiceless, powerless, traumatised; her story kept me writing,
page after page, draft after draft. I wanted to bring words to a story that
shouldn’t be forgotten.

Who would you cast in the role of your characters if your book was optioned for a movie Anna?

I love this
question.

Miriam came
to life for me after I watched an interview with Bryony Hannah on her process
of acting, it was a long time ago, but I remember Bryony Hannah talking about
hands, and it was as if everything fell into place for me and Miriam became a
fully-fledged, failing person. If Bryony Hannah was ten years (plus) older she
would make a perfect Miriam.

Simon Callow
reads the audiobook of The Rabbit Girls for Henryk’s chapters; and the rich
cadences of his voice bring Henryk’s voice to life in such an incredible way.
Henryk came to life through his acting. Extraordinary.

Young Henryk
I thought would look like Eric Bana; and Frieda someone like Michelle Williams;
although Gemma Arterton would also be an incredible casting.

Judy Dench
as Eva; Natalie Portman as Bunny; Helena Bonham Carter as Wanda … I’ll stop
there, because this is so much fun (oh, to dream!).

What inspired you to write?

I read the
article about the Polish Midwife in Auschwitz. I hadn’t written ANYTHING before
that point in time. I have always been a reader, I love reading, I love books,
but I was a nurse and new-Mum. I didn’t think about picking up a pen until I
realised that I wanted to read this story, so I tried my hand at writing it. With no experience (aside from the
books I have read) I set out, I took some amazing classes, I tried and failed
and tried harder. It was the story that inspired me to write and it is stories
like these that will keep me writing.

Which authors have influenced your writing?

Every book I
have ever read, good and bad influences me as a writer. There’s a lot to be
taken from a ‘bad’ book.

There are
many writers I love and those that inspire me;

Zadie Smith
– I like how she thinks and I love how that translates onto a page.

Samantha
Harvey for stories that live beyond the book, they exist somewhere in me and I
love books that make you, as a reader, change in some way. Every Samantha
Harvey book does this for me.

One of the
most influential authors has been Toni Morrison. In Beloved she showed me what
fiction could do and every book she has written touches the soul and plays with
emotions in such a way. A creative writing colleague once said that Beloved was
the only book in which he had ever felt physically sick while reading, and
although this sounds perverse, to be able to illicit such a response from words
is something I aim to achieve in my own work.

What are you reading now Anna?

I am
currently reading a lot of research books in preparation for book three, which
tends to take over my reading time every day. But I do have Chimamanda Ngozi
Adichie’s AMERICANAH on the go and, because of all the research-reading, I am
taking my time with it, which is perfect. She crafts such beautiful prose that
you live within rather than read. Ifemelu is a unique character voice and I
love the story so much I struggle to put it down. Chimamanda is one of the best
writers working today. I am in awe of her craft.

Finally, are there any tips you could share with new writers that have worked well for you?

Write for the story – the people who inhabit
your words and the worlds you create, don’t just write for the words.

Believe in
what you are doing, listen to all advice that comes your way, grow, but never
give up.

Read often,
read widely and read well – it’s the best advice I’ve been given.

Thank you for being my guest. Wishing you success with all your writing projects.

Anna Ellory is a former children’s nurse from Bath. She completed an MA in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University, where she was mentored by author Fay Weldon. Anna was inspired to write The Rabbit Girls as a way of shining a light on the rarely told experiences of women and children during the Holocaust. It has sold in over 10 territories worldwide so far. Connect with Anna on Twitter @AnnaEllory.

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I've been blogging about my interests at Jera's Jamboree for 8+ years. My love of reading, crocheting and being out in nature are all things that help me unwind from my role as an Inclusion Lead in a primary school. I'm passionate about early help and sharing strategies with families to empower and help build resilience. I'm a member of of my Local Authority's Early Help Operational Board, working alongside other professionals to instigate change and growth.